I'm Just A Parasite Now
by Leki
Summary: "You really, really think I wanna be one of you blood sucking parasites, don't you?" Elliot spat at him. Dragon stared at him with cool eyes, gauging him silently, "Well, I don't, you hear me!" Elliot the disgustingly mannered fledgling has a rough landing into the School of Night. Unfortunately for Dragon, this is his new charge. Sigh. His new troubling burden.


I'm Just A Parasite Now

_["You really, really think I wanna be one of you blood sucking parasites, don't you?" Elliot spat at him. Dragon stared at him with cool eyes, gauging him silently, "Well, I don't, you hear me?!" _Elliot the disgustingly mannered fledgling has a rough landing into the School of Night. Unfortunately for Dragon, this is his new charge. _Sigh_. His new troubling burden.]

Elliot & Dragon-centric. Rated K.

House of Night Series by P.C. & Kristen Cast

Part 1 === I'm Outta Here

"Neferet." The high priestess turned around at the voice of another teacher, who had come up behind her in one of the many teacher's lounges. Before Neferet responded, she eyed the moody looking teenager standing behind the teacher.

"Yes?" Loren waved his hand at the new comer.

"This boy, Elliot Darcy, has just arrived. He needs his roommate." Neferet's eyes narrowed at the arrival's grin. This teacher was a smartass, as she well knew.

"Then you take him to his room, Loren." The teacher shrugged lazily, taking a cigarette.

"Not my duty."

"I'm commanding you to take him."

"I'm just an honorary professor, my lady." At the sound of bickering, Elliot tuned them out, looking around. A woman with horse marks on her forehead who had been talking to Neferet before his arrival smiled kindly at him. He secretly thought that horses were such a gay ass thing to have for such a serious meaning-ed mark.

"Welcome to the House of Night, Elliot. I'm Lenobia. I hope your stay is pleasant." Elliot muttered a low hello, and kicked his heel (did he just really kick his heel sheepishly? he thought to himself), waiting for Neferet to finish. He only looked up when Neferet said something sharp, he didn't catch what since he didn't have a single want to listen to her, and turned on her heel, stalking out the door.

Neferet fumed as she swept out into the hall, Elliot trailing, bored, behind her. Her mild surprise shocked the anger out of her, though, when she realized that she had done just what Loren Blake wanted. Why did it seem to always end up like this? Elliot heard her small sigh, but he didn't question her. He was too busy looking around at all the cliche vampire things. The old hallways, windows with heavy shutters or curtains. Antique gas lamps that probably didn't survive anywhere but at equally pretentious schools or in antique shops. Oh please.

He was so busy looking at the cliche surroundings that he got right up on her heels, staring off as he was and ended up stepping right onto the hems of her light green robes and slamming into her. She stumbled a step to the side, and her head whirled to face him, a huge frown on her face, eyes narrowed. She looked down at her robes, where there was a dirty footprint, then back at him with even more narrowed eyes. He graced her with a sardonic smile.

"Watch where you are going, fledgling. It would be conclusive to you... remaining unharmed. By accident of course."

"Yeah, well. I wasn't looking." Elliot didn't apologize, staring right into her eyes, a small grin tugging at his lips. He wasn't going to give them an inch for making him come here.

He was too busy looking at a gas lamp etched with moons when Neferet suddenly halted to a stop in front of him, turning on her heel on the spot to face a office. He was too close to her "You need to watch where you are going, young one." Neferet folded her hands downward, he blew a raspberry at her with his mouth, sneering. She squeezed her hands tight, crossing her arms at the wrist, sleeves covering skin as she looked at him, her voice deceptively soft.

"Guess that's why they call it an accident. Didn't mean to an' all." Elliot said loftily, sighing and crossing his arms, looking back at the gas lamps as if he had lost interest in her and was just waiting for her to unlock the door. Okay. Neferet really did not like this kid. She had to remind herself that all students were her charges.

"Watch your mouth, Elliot Darcy, and speak with respect." Elliot stood up straighter, his eyes sparking and looked at her, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

"You haven't done anything to deserve respect." His mouth twisted in obvious disgust, "You cowards are the ones that brought me here. And are we going in or what?" Elliot stepped past Neferet before she could stop him, surprised as she was, and opened the door. Inside was an office with a desk, and a very obviously surprised teacher behind it. Elliot didn't get a good look at him before Neferet snatched him back by his shoulder, twirling him partially around.

"Now listen here, you little brat, whatever you got by with in your old life, you won't get away with here, because you will be punished."

"Get off!" Elliot snapped at her, jerking his shoulder from her grip. However, her hand flashed out again and this time, her grip wasn't shaken. Elliot went rigid, angry at her touch. How dare she touch him! he thought, right as she wondered how he dare he be so insolent.

"You do not go barging in offices, or any other personal room, as if you own the place! As of now, you own nothing but the clothes on your back, you ungrateful whelp." Neferet seethed, her eyes flashing, and Elliot glared right back up at her. The hate was thick between them.

"Yeah, well, I actually did OWN stuff until you freaking vampires came into the picture! I had a whole other LIFE, no thanks to you!"

"You were chosen and marked, a sign of great dignity and you should be grateful-" Elliot blew a raspberry at her with his mouth again.

"DIGNITY?" Elliot snapped, that one world infused with laughter.

"DO NOT DARE OPEN YOUR MOUTH TO ME FLEDGLING!"

"WHAT dignity?! I mean, come ON! How the hell did I even get marked?! Certainly it took some thought for your tracker to walk on up to me and everything-"

"Elliot Darcy!" Neferet snarled at him, utterly fed up, her fingers were curling into his skin for a better grip, and he was pulling away and they continued to bicker.

There was a dry and somehow sarcastic cough from behind them, and both of their heads whipped to face the other teacher. They had completely forgotten that he was there.

"Welcome to my office." Now that Elliot wasn't focused on the outrageous female teach, he could focus on the newbie. He wasn't very tall for a guy, but then again he was sitting. But then again his head was barely above the back of the high part of the chair. A smooth, pale face with a strong jaw, slightly pointed chin. Pale blue eyes that looked like they were heading towards white. And his hair was blond. But a dull blond, pale, and it was somehow flat looking against his head, pulled back into a ponytail as it was. No fluff to it at all.

Observing the new guy had made Elliot completely tune out her words for a moment, but he caught onto the tail of her sentence.

"-he's perfect for you, Dragon." Elliot snorted at her words, finally catching on.

"What? He's the resident tough guy? Meant to do the whole 'crack-down' thing?" Elliot narrowed his eyes at Dragon, who stared at him thoughtfully.

"Leave him to me, Neferet." The man stood up, coming around the table and looking into Neferet's eyes, ignoring the boy completely. Elliot's eyes narrowed in annoyance, "The boy will be taken care of." Neferet sighed in a way that clearly stated that a weight had been lifted off her chest, and she glared at the unruly student once more, not for the first time wishing she could get her hands on a student without getting in trouble, and bowed her head respectfully to Dragon before whirling around in her own little whirlwind of power and left. Simply. Elliot stared at her, somewhat at a loss.

"Sit." Dragon commanded the one word, going back around to sit at his desk. Elliot looked like he was about to refuse, but then something crossed his face and he sat down, settling the bag he wouldn't let go of by his feet. There was a rustle as Dragon crossed his legs under the table, arms flat on the desk. Elliot wasn't looking at him. He was tilted his head and looking pointedly at the window.

Dragon internally grumbled. Due to his extreme patience and the willingness to outlast even the most stubborn and infuriating children, and adults, Dragon was often given the fledglings that were deemed unhandable by other teachers. When teachers were at a loss, well, it became his duty to take the fledglings in and somehow make them society-worthy. He just wished sometimes he didn't feel as if Nyx were testing him. Knowing full well that the new fledgling probably wasn't listening to half a word he said, he decided to make it quick, but still give the kid a chance.

"As Neferet told you, you will be punished if you continue to act as such, Elliot." Dragon watched him, and Elliot was still not looking at him. In fact, his head seemed to be turning very slightly. His eyes were still, as if he were listening to something. Dragon dryly hoped that it was him he was listening to, "We'll get you settled in with a new room mate, and he will show you where the cafeteria-"

Dragon stopped in mid sentence when Elliot jerked his head forward and hopped out of his chair, slinging his green backpack over his shoulder.

"I'm outta here." He had been listening to the sharp tapping of Neferet's heels until they were faint. She moved fast, though, especially when she was furious apparently, and she had disappeared out one of the doors. He stepped towards the door, swinging it open and walking out without a backwards glance, the only attention given to anything was to his backpack, which he hiked up higher on his shoulder.

Dragon pushed himself up, away from the desk, and went around it with long, steady strides. When he got to the door, he was surprised to find Elliot had already sped-walked halfway down the hall, and he had to pick up the pace. When he got to the boy, his own steps silent, Dragon reached out and grabbed the shoulder, latching onto a backpack strap.

Elliot rounded on Dragon, edging back from his touch. Dragon's hand lingered in the air for a second before dropping to his hip, his eyes cool. He could see the way Elliot's lip curled in disgust. He could vaguely see students out of the corner of his eyes, but once they saw the scene, they hurried on.

"You really, really think I wanna be one of you blood sucking parasites, don't you?" Elliot spat at him. Dragon stared at him with cool eyes, gauging him silently, "Well, I don't, you hear me?! All you are is some lame, hyped up myth that in reality doesn't nothing more than gorge itself on other, like a useless tick! You and all your kind fucking suck! You aren't worth the ground you seem to think you float so holy over!" Elliot snarled at him, eyes flashing, and jerked backwards when Dragon reached out a hand for him, "Don't you fucking touch me!" Dragon kept his fingers outstretched in a loose star, in front of Elliot's throat.

"If you don't wish to be man-handled- excuse me, _boy-handled_, then I suggest you turn around, face me, quit running, and own up to what your future now includes." Elliot sneered, grimaced and snarled all at once, gripping the backpack so tightly his knuckles went white.

"My future doesn't have anything to do with you freaks." He turned to run down the hallway.

Dragon gripped his arm as he attempted to turn, grunting with annoyance. Why did they always send the rioting fresh fledglings to him? It was old school, all their reasons for hatred. He just had to get to the issue. But regardless of that, he had to put them in their place first. He slammed him back against the stone wall. Not pushed. Slammed. Elliot hit the wall with his back and his breath was knocked out of him. His eyes widened furiously and he pushed himself away from the wall. Dragon slammed him back again and they repeated over and over, with no varying degrees of success for the fledgling. Elliot was forced back each time, and Dragon wasn't even beginning to get tired.

Eventually, Elliot, who was huffing from having been slammed repetitively (and harshly each time) against the wall, was looking down at his shoes, at a loss.

"Are you done throwing a temper tantrum, child?" Dragon's emotionless voice cut him to the quick, and Elliot's head shot up, his teeth grinding. He was about to say something, but found he had nothing to say, and dropped his head again. He nodded slowly. Dragon stared at him for a moment, "Your punishment for disobeying Neferet's orders, as well as mine, will begin tomorrow. But now, it is too late." Elliot made a noise of rebellion, but he was already being herded back to the dorms. Dragon had nudged him towards the door, introducing them briefly before heading back to his office. He didn't want to deal with hellos. Elliot shook his head at the boy who tried to hold out his hand to introduce himself.

"Don't bother. I won't be here long." The boy looked perplexed, but shrugged his shoulders and went back to his game.

"If you say so." There was silence between them as Elliot sat on the seat beneath the window, sat with his back against the wall, arms around his upraised knees and looked out at the night. Classes were almost over, so Dragon had told him he could start tomorrow.

Fat chance.

When he slid off the loveseat, several hours later, the other boy was already laying down on his bed, reading under a light. He half raised himself up as Elliot slung the bag over his shoulder.

"Fledglings can't go off the property-" Elliot sneered and flipped him off, opening the door and sliding out, taking off in case the boy wanted to be a do-gooder and catch him for the teachers. He didn't hear the door open however, as he ran down the hall, keeping his head down.

Why did his parents let them take him away?

They must have been forced by some law. They would never send him here otherwise.

The hallways were sure long in this place, and they had to be that cliche crap, with the gaslight lamps and lots and lots of stone. No modern day stuff, no sir. Elliot sighed, rolling his eyes and grumbling to himself. He found side doors, but they were locked. Definitely not the front gate, bolted for the day to keep humans out. Eventually, he came to a part of the wall that was crumbling. He had to scrounge for a rock, wasting time, but he eventually found one of the right shape and started prying out loose grit to make himself footholds. And then he was up, digging his sneakers and fingers into the stone. He to say so, he was a pretty good climber! It wasn't long till he was at the top, climbing over the top. When he put his elbows up on the top of the 9 foot stone wall, dark leather shoed feet suddenly walked up to his elbow. He started, scrambling to keep his purchase. Suddenly he was gripped by his neck like a kitten and lifted.

"It amazes me that fledgling tricks never change over the years. A crumbling wall and your imagination is set. And to be fair, I wouldn't really call it imagination." Elliot was set on his feet on the top of the wall, right on his feet so he could look up into the eyes of Dragon. How the hell had he gotten there?! He hadn't been there before! No way, not a 9 foot wall. Dragon's eyes were bored as they looked at him. Elliot bristled under that gaze. He wanted Dragon to hate him, not to not care.

"You can't keep me here." Elliot skidded onto his butt and forced himself to jump. Those annoying tingles of pain shot up his feet and spiked into his legs, but he ignored them and started walking stubbornly.

"You really can't leave." Elliot didn't quit walking, "Or you will die." Elliot faltered and slowed, but continued onwards, gripping his backpack strap tightly. Dragon's voice was soft, but it cut through with that annoyingly soft power that still demanded to be listened to.

"Why in the world would I die? I'm just going for a walk." Elliot grinned, not letting the fear show on his face, the fear of the unknown.

"Have you forgotten the laws to your universe have changed? No longer are you welcomed by day. Night is your Goddess now." Dragon was quiet for a long moment, "You must be nourished by the presence of an adult vampire." Elliot turned on his heel, staring at Dragon, who stood with his arms crossed up on the wall.

"Psh! Nourished by a presence? Puh-LEASE. Sounds like a fairy tail." There was no joking in Dragon's eyes, however, and Elliot found himself faltering. He had mouthed off to almost every single person he'd met thus far, and they'd all reacted badly. This guy, he just sounded like he was rolling facts off his tongue without a second thought, and in that there was a dangerous ring of truth.

"Why do you think every fledgling requires a mentor? There is power stored in our bodies that you have not been given the key for, that we have unlocked, contain and control every day... Not even the cravings have started with you, child. When you no longer require being a _parasite_-" And yes, there was ironic sarcasm in the word, "-of my presence, then blood will become your nourishment. You know nothing of what that power is, or what you need from it. And you will remain... _blissfully_ unaware if you continue to be an ignorant little brat who won't listen. And if you do not _listen_ then you was just as blissfully walk into a death trap set up by that ignorance... you will die before you reach your 18th birthday. You won't be an adult, even by a human's pitifully short standards, before you die." There was a bite to Dragon's tone, but one that was dry and practiced. Elliot could see exactly why he had been given to Dragon. Dragon didn't take any crap, he got right to the point, and he didn't try to be nice like the other teachers. He just plain told him what was what. Elliot lifted his chin, mirroring Dragon and crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Well, what if I don't care, huh? You ever think about that? Death is WAY better than being what you guys are. I'd rather be crippled and maimed." Elliot glared angrily at him. Dragon tilted his head, and there was a flesh of his tongue dragging across his fangs.

"Then go. You are over the gate." Elliot's eyes flashed at the silent challenge there and turned to walk away. He got maybe 20 feet, when he realized Dragon hadn't told him a radius. How far could he go? His heart thumped painfully. Just the border of the school? Made sense. Kinda like a room filled with humans daily, creatures didn't tend to enter as often. Maybe it had to do with scent or whatever, but vampires traipsed through the school all day. So maybe that was the boundary.

He felt "blissfully unaware" as Dragon had called it. And it stung. He didn't know anything. But _how_ could he be expected to know?! They'd just throw him into this! No questions asked! The tracker hadn't even talked to him. He vaguely, maybe, remembered some words, but then he was down on the ground screaming in agony and despair.

The second part to the thought he had earlier cropped up. What if his parents really hadn't wanted to send him away? Would he get them in trouble if he showed up, expecting them to hide him? Surely they couldn't keep a child away from parents?

Elliot choked on venomous, angry tears coming up his throat. No, it was his own body keeping him from leaving. He looked at the border of a not so distant building, probably a cafe or store. It was too far. Too far. He didn't know how far he could go. His eyes were already aching from the sunlit morning filtering through the leafy old oaks around him.

He ached for his parents. His sister. His old life. He cupped his hand over his mark, eyes dull. It wasn't even partially filled, but all the same it chained him to this place. Elliot grunted in frustration, and with a deep sense of self loathing and failure, turned his back on the open roads and back to the wall.

Silently, and with what he felt was humbleness, at least for him, he walked to the wall and held his hands up to Dragon, to help him up the wall as he had earlier. Dragon raised his eyebrows in mocking.

"Oh no. You wasted a good two hours of my time. Climb." Elliot's eyes hardened, and then before he could backtalk, Dragon was gone. Elliot blinked. He was really just gone. Then his face darkened and he cursed. The fuck?! He'd left him! With curses streaming from his mouth, Elliot began to work it all out again. He had to again find a rock, again had to make himself footholds, and again had to climb. This time, Dragon wasn't there to pick him up by his neck and set him down. He was frustrated, but no less desperate to get out of there.

Yeah, he'd try tomorrow morning. Tomorrow.

* * *

Okay, this series is by far very blandly and badly written. Everyone is a humble, pleasant carbon copy of the next person for the most part. But Elliot, who was described as a disgusting, annoying character really drew me in. I definitely don't see his entrance was pleasant. I haven't decided whether this will be a oneshot or not, just depends on how much ideas I have on this. If it continues, it will definitely not end with him cowering under Stevie Ray. I hate her for turning my favorite character into basically a misc. back-up.


End file.
